Downfall
by beckah85
Summary: Just a story based on my take of the spoilers coming up, no idea if it will work or not!
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own anything and this is my first attempt at a fanfic, so I'm apologizing in advance! I know it's not long but this is just my take on the church fall spoilers and there will be more chapters coming! I'm probably completely wrong anyway. Please read and review.**

The two girls had been arguing for over an hour already and they were both exhausted, 'I know you don't want to be with me any more, you wouldn't have left if you did so just go, Sian' Sophie spat at her girlfriend. Sian felt almost too dumbstruck to speak but she knew she had to, she knew that it wasn't true, 'I do love you Soph, I can't believe that you can think I don't...' 'Don't even go there' Sophie interrupted, 'I seen them photos you know'

' What photos are these then?' Sian was tired, she'd had enough.

'You and Chloe, all loved up on holiday AND I know you've been seeing her since you got back' Sophie cried out, 'I bet she's a better girlfriend than me.'

'You what? I love you Soph, only you Chloe is just a friend nothing more' Sian tried desperately to reassure Sophie but somehow she knew it wasn't going to work

'No she's not Sian, I can see that, you said you'd always be there for me and you're not. You're leaving me again!'

'I'm not leaving you, I only went to give you some space, me and you are forever babe, you know that' Sian tried again, 'I don't want anyone else...'

'Just leave me alone Sian, I don't want to see you EVER again' Sophie shouted across the living room. Sian couldn't believe the way Sophie was treating her, her blue eyes filling with tears, betraying her emotions even as she shouted back, 'I have done nothing wrong and you know it, you always do this to me, you always push me away. I am not putting up with this you know, not this time'

'Well go then, that's what you've wanted to do for ages isn't it? That's what I'd do if I was you!'

So Sian went, turned and walked away.

Less than 1 second after Sian walked out of the house Sophie knew that she had made a mistake, she didn't want her to go, she needed her to stay. Her whole life was falling apart in front of her and no one cared. She just couldn't go after her, she was too proud. So she did the thing she didn't want to do, the thing that she had done too often over the past couple of months, but it was the only control she had. She went upstairs, into her wardrobe and took out the bottle of cider she had hid there earlier.

* * *

Sian was sitting on a wall just round the corner from Sophie's house crying. She knew that she shouldn't have left Sophie like that but what could she do? Sophie was clearly on a path of self destruction and she just couldn't sit and watch it any more, she'd tried to help and it had just been thrown back in her face time and time again. It was tearing her apart. If only...

Suddenly a thought struck her, Rosie! Rosie would know what to do, as much as she was a complete air head and self obsessed like no one Sian had ever met she was Sophie's sister and she loved her maybe, just maybe, if Rosie and her both went round and tried to talk to her they could get through to her together.

So, with a deep breath, and wiping the tears from her face using her sleeve she got up and walked down the road to the Grimshaw's house and knocked on the door. After a short wait, Sean answered in his sing song voice, 'Hello!' then seeing the state that Sian was in his whole demeanour changed, 'Oh Sian, what's happened?'

'Is Rosie in? I - I need to talk to her' Sian stuttered.

'No she's not, but come in and wait she shouldn't be long, the shops have nearly shut!' he joked, trying to get her to smile. Not that it worked. In fact all it managed to do was make Sian cry again as he accidentally reminded her that Sophie had said that too, in happier times.

'Oh Sian, come here' said Sean, as he pulled her into a hug and then into the house, 'What's happened? whatever it is I'm sure it's not that bad love', then, when the only response he got was an increase in sobbing, 'Come on, have a seat, I'll make you a cuppa.'

As Sean disappeared into the small kitchen Sian sat on the edge of the sofa with her arms wrapped around her body, trying to give herself some comfort. Where was Rosie? Surely she would be back soon, Sophie needed them.

A few minutes later Sean returned with two mugs and his mobile glued to his ear, 'Look Rosie, I'm not being funny here but its important - yes more important than a new handbag - no I don't know...' He placed a mug on the table in front of Sian and gave her a look that said he was sorry for Rosie being... well Rosie! 'You know what? Maybe you should just talk to her, she's not told me anything' and passed the phone to Sian.

'What's up babe?' Rosie trilled, clearly still distracted by whatever handbag she was now ogling.

'It's Soph...' Sian started before she was interrupted, 'Why? what's she done now? don't tell me she's in a sulk again, such a drama queen!' Rosie laughed.

'No, it's more than that, I don't know, I don't know what to do, how to get through to her. I'm scared Rosie, she's going to do something b- something.' Rosie seemed to have finally realised how upset that Sian was.

'What do you mean something? Have you fallen out?' Rosie was concerned, at last! Sian thought.

'No - well yes - well I don't know, she thinks I've done something that I haven't, but she's been pushing me away for months now and I think that this might be the last straw. I c-can't...' Sian had to stop talking as she started crying again and Sean took the phone from her. 'Rosie? Now do you understand? It's important so come home now'. He hung up, sat next to Sian and drew her into him again.

* * *

Half an hour later Sian had finally stopped crying when the front door banged open and Rosie rushed in. Sian jumped up from where she was still curled up in Sean's arms and hugged Rosie so tightly that she thought she might suffocate. After a few minutes, Rosie peeled the younger girl away and looked right into her face and asked, 'So tell me what's been going on? I've never seen you like this before'

'She's wasn't coping with your Mum and Dad splitting and the new baby, she was getting behind at college and then I went on holiday' Sian paused, 'I shouldn't have gone, If I'd known I wouldn't have gone! honest'

'If you'd have known what Sian?' Rosie asked gently.

'Well you know, she got kicked out of college, then your Dad sold the house and there I was on holiday, I wasn't there for her, I was off having fun on holiday with my Mum and Yusef. I didn't forget about her I couldn't but I wanted - I don't know what I wanted - I think I wanted to relax so I could support her better, be better for...' Again Sian paused, but before Rosie could speak again she continued, 'Then she saw photo's on facebook of me and this girl I met on holiday.' A sob escaped her lips, 'She thinks I cheated, why would I cheat? I love her!' Once again, sobs racked her body and Rosie wrapped her arms around her

'Don't blame yourself Sian, you weren't to know', Rosie tried to reasure Sian, 'But that doesn't matter, I should never have left her, she needs me and I need her. Please can we go round and talk to her... Make her see – make her - her understand' She pleaded.

'Of course we can, we'll go as soon as you've cleaned your face babe' Rosie said before pushing her towards the stairs.

Sean was still in the living room, looking stunned at what he had just heard and witnessed, 'Rosie, what are you going to do? What are you going to say?'

'I don't know babe, I mean I knew she wasn't happy but I didn't think it was bad enough for Sian to get in that kind of state. I hope she's ok' Rosie looked like she was on the verge of tears too.

* * *

A few minutes later Rosie shouted up the stairs, 'Ok Sian you ready to go see Sophie?' But Sian was already on her way down and heading for the door.

As the two girls left the warm house, the cold winter air hit them and Sian shivered, Rosie putting her arm round her, 'why didn't you put a coat on before you left you silly girl?'

'I don't know, I didn't think of that, besides I left the house ages ago, it was warmer then!' Sian replied, before looking up and seeing that there were no lights on at number 4 Coronation Street, 'That's a bit strange Rosie? You don't think she's gone out do you?'

'I doubt it, she's probably in her room wishing you were there!' Rosie said reasuringly, but both girls sped up anyway, something wasn't right.

As they reached the front door, Sian tried it and found it unlocked, 'Good she's in' she said with relief, 'Soph? Soph where are you?' she called as she ran through the house.

'She's not here, Rosie she's not here!'


	2. Chapter 2

**Once again, I own nothing, much as I'd like to! I meant to get this up earlier but I just couldn't seem to finish it I'm going to try to get another chapter up tomorrow. Please read and review cos it helps!**

Sophie had been out walking for over 2 hours according to her watch and she was no longer sure of where she was. She was freezing, the evening chill penetrating her body in the same way that the same thoughts kept running through her mind, her Mum was right, Sian wasn't going to be around forever like she had once promised, she'd ruined her education, her life, over a girl who didn't care. Even her parents didn't care really, her Mum was too wrapped up in Jeff or Alfie or whatever his name was this week and as for her Dad? Well he'd sold her home from under her. She didn't want to move away from Weatherfield, she'd been born here. She felt like Rosie sometimes cared but since she'd moved out to live with Jason she'd not really been around enough to talk to. According to her old Pastor even God didn't care about her, was she really that bad a person?

As Sophie walked she clutched the bottle of cider comfortingly to her chest and she realised that it felt strangely light. Looking down she saw that well over half of it had gone, she'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts she hadn't known she'd been drinking. Looking around her she recognised a shop near her old church and despite her earlier dark thoughts about God and this particular church she felt a strange sense of relief. Christianity had once been so easy for her, it had been a refuge and home for her and she found herself stumbling in that direction.

* * *

Sian and Rosie didn't know what to do, they knew Sophie wasn't in the house but they didn't know where to start looking for her, 'Look Sian I will go and get my Mum, I think she's in the Rovers, and Jason and we will find her. I promise you' Rosie said as she tried to think of a plan, any plan of action. She left quickly leaving Sian sitting on Sophie's bed holding the family photo she had always kept there.

'Where are you Soph?' Sian muttered to herself then she shook herself back to life and almost ran down the stairs and out of the house. She had almost reached the green doors of the Rovers when Rosie burst out followed by Jason who was already taking his car keys out of his pocket. 'Sian!' she shouted, 'Mum's not in there and Dad isn't either, come on Jason's going to drive us round in his van and see if we can spot her'

The three of them ran to the van which was parked just round the corner on Rosamund street. 'Alright, do you have any idea where she might have gone?' Jason asked calmly as they climbed in. 'No I don't' Sian shakily replied. 'Well does she have any place she normally goes to think like the red rec or a particular shop she likes?'

'Well no, we've not spent a lot of time on the red rec for the last couple of years really, she loves the Trafford Centre but I don't think she'll have gone there, they are shut by now anyway' Sian was starting to feel her palms get sweaty as she got nervous. As they pulled off, Jason asked Rosie, 'What about you? Do you have any ideas about where we should start?'

'I don't know, I just don't know Jase, I'm going to ring my Mum and Dad again though. Maybe they will know something' Rosie replied before making her first call.

Jason responded, 'Ok well while you do that I'm going to head round to your Dad's flat, if he's in he can help to look for her. Sian I am going to need directions ok?' Sian pointed in the direction of the park and Jason took off down the road in the direction that Sian had indicated to him.

* * *

Sophie stood outside the church doors listening to the sound of singing drifting towards her. 'That's right', she thought, 'It's Monday night practice'. She remembered the Monday after her 16th birthday party when she and Sian had gone to confront their pastor. Ellie had been good to them then, she had understood that everyone had the right to a voice. Maybe she would be able to get her hurt out to them.

She pushed the door open and heard the familiar creak even as the music got louder and walked down the corridor confidently occasionally holding on to the walls at the side of her to steady herself. As she reached the door to the choir room though she could no longer be confident as her worries began to flood back in earnest and she took another drink, a large one this time. She knew it was too much but she couldn't help herself anymore.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity to calm her breathing even though it was probably only about 10 minutes Sophie put her hand out and gently pushed the door open.

* * *

Kevin was in and even though, at first, he hadn't been too concerned with what he was being told by Rosie the more he listened and watched Sian's face the more worried he became. 'And you don't know where Sally is?' he asked, 'No and she's not picking up her phone either' Rosie said. 'I bet she's with that Al...' he began, irritated once again by how quickly Sally had been able to move on from him before seeing the look of horror on the two girls faces.

'What? You can't honestly still be thinking about yourself when your daughter is missing can you?' exploded Sian as she stood up angrily and moved closer to the man she had once wished was her own father instead of Vinnie. 'No, wait Sian, maybe she is!' Rosie held a hand out to Sian to stop her as, at the same, removing her phone once again from her pocket and, leaving the room, rang Alfie.

'Has anyone actually rang her mobile yet?' Kevin questioned, 'Of course we have but she didn't take it with her' Sian replied still with an edge of anger in her voice before softening her tone at the look of hurt that briefly flashed across his face, 'That's partly why we're so worried, she never goes anywhere without it normally, she's as bad as Rosie for that!' Sian tried to give him a reassuring smile but even as the corners of her mouth turned up she knew that she wasn't going to be able to manage one and sobs began to shake her body again.

'Right ok – well let me know if you hear anything yeah babes?' Rosie re-entered the room before hanging up, 'She was there, her and Alfie are going out to look for her now.' Kevin stood up, 'Right, well lets get going as well, I am going to drop Jack off at my Dad's house then, Sian you can come with me, Jason and Rosie would you mind looking too?'

'Course we will Kev' Jason replied, 'Come on Rosie, did your Mum say where they were going to start looking?...' As they left and Jason's voice became quieter Kevin began to move round the flat gathering all the things that Jack would need. Sian watched him, 'I'm sorry Kevin this is all my fault I shouldn't have gone on holiday, she told me not to and I ignored her' she said in a small voice. 'Hey, come on now Sian, it's not your fault it wasn't your responsibility to watch her every minute of every day, me and Sal – we've not been good parents over the last few months. And that's my fault, so don't let me hear you thinking like that again' he said, 'look I'm ready now, lets go' and he picked up Jack in his car seat and left followed closely by Sian.

* * *

Sophie hadn't pushed the door open quite as quietly as she thought she had and it ricocheted off the wall with a loud bang. As the eyes of the choir all turned to face her she could feel herself go red, 'What are you all looking at?' she slurred angrily not realising that it was her own actions that had caused them to turn to face her.

The Pastor hurried over and caught hold of her arm, 'Sophie? Are you drunk? Maybe you should sit down', he tried to guide her out of the room to sit her in another room but Sophie pulled herself out of his grasp, 'You're not hiding me away you know! I shouldn't be a dirty shecret just cos I'm gay you know' she spat into his face, the last few months hurt and anger finally being released.

As she stumbled into the centre of the room she could feel everyone's eyes following her and she turned to look at them, 'Your not perfect you lot, shinging your God songs thinking your perfect!' she rambled, 'God doesn't care about gay's and – and you don't know...' Sophie sank to the floor and took another swig from her bottle, 'It's not easy being gay'

Some of the members of the choir had lifted their hands to their mouths in shock, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Their friend who had always seemed so perfect was now dishevelled, drunk and ranting, but when Sophie saw them she pulled herself to her feet, 'Oh you think it's funny do ya?' she stumbled briefly towards them before she could feel tears pricking at the back of her eyes.

She didn't want to, couldn't let them see her cry and she spun on her heels and ran blindly away as the tears came pouring down her face. 'Why did I come here? There's nothing here for me' she thought as she crashed through doors and up and down stairs trying to find a way out of her own hell.

The Pastor was still standing in shock but he was moved into action as he began to hear mutterings from the choir behind him, 'Stay here, I'm going to go and find her' he shouted as her began to run trying to follow the sounds that Sophie was making. As he followed her he realised that she was heading for the roof, 'No Sophie, please don't' he muttered as he sped up.

Breaking through the door onto the flat roof above the hall he saw her standing near the edge looking down at the car park, 'Sophie?' he said quietly not wanting to startle her but as she turned to look at him he watched her feet slip on the gravel surface and as if in slow motion her body arched over the edge and disappeared. It was only seconds before the pastor heard the loud crash but he still almost had to will his feet to run to the edge and look down. He could just see Sophie's body, stretched out as if on a cross, unmoving on top of a silver car.


	3. Chapter 3

**Still don't own anything :( I really need reviews you know! In fact I'm tempted to hold the next chapter hostage till I get plenty more. You have been warned!**

**Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter anyway.  
**

As soon as Pam and Bill had listened to the news that Sophie was missing Pam gave Sian and Kevin a hug and agreed to look after the baby for as long as was needed and Bill grabbed his own car keys ready to aid in looking for her wherever he was needed.

10 minutes after Kevin and Sian left Jack with Pam at Bill's house her phone beeped a text message.

'There's no sign of her on the Red Rec' Sian repeated the message to the two men, 'Right, ok well seeing as you lot are looking round Weatherfield I'll head further afield into Manchester' Bill said as he got into his car. Kevin put his arm round Sian, 'Don't worry love, we'll find her, she'll be fine' he tried once again to reassure the blonde.

He hadn't succeeded, 'I just can't think where she will have got to' They were now in the car looking in all directions hoping to spot her, 'I'm really worried, I've got a really bad feeling that something's happened to her. I mean it's not like her not to tell me things, I knew things were bad before I left but she didn't tell me anything while I was away.' Sian muttered almost to herself.

The cars two occupants drifted into silence, their need to find Sophie overtaking their need to talk. Kevin didn't know what to say anyway, as much as he hoped that his youngest daughter was fine he couldn't help agreeing with Sian's thoughts.

As Kevin rounded the corner onto Inkerman Street, finding himself drawn back towards Coronation Street despite knowing that the likelihood of finding Sophie so close to her own home was slim Sian's phone began to ring. Without even looking at the caller's number she answered, hoping Sophie had rang her from a payphone, 'Sophie?'

Kevin glanced across briefly, 'Is it her?' Sian shook her head, 'I'm sorry Pastor, I can't really talk at the moment, Sophie's gone missing'

'Sian, she's here but...' he began, 'She's where? Are you at the church? Is she ok? Just keep her there we are on our way' Sian began to rattle off questions without giving the Pastor a chance to reply and pointing in the direction of the church to Kevin, who, with a brief nod and a smile turned the car around again.

As soon as he got the chance the Pastor interrupted, 'I'm sorry but - there's been an accident – Sian are you there? He asked as he only got silence in return. Sian's face had gone white with shock and she couldn't bring herself to say anything in return. The phone fell from her grasp onto the floor, then she felt the car slow down as Kevin pulled to the side of the road.

'Sian?' Kevin asked but he couldn't get a response from the young girl as she continued to stare at something he couldn't see. When he still didn't get an answer he lent forward and grabbed the phone.

'Sian? - Sian? - Are you there?' The Pastor was shouting as Kevin brought the phone to his ear, 'No this is Sophie's Dad, what have you said to her?' he was dreading the answer, already knowing it couldn't be good considering the reaction that it had already had.

'Look, there's been an accident, she was really upset and she'd been drinking. She's fallen off the roof. I've called an ambulance obviously but I think you need to head straight over to the hospital. I'll go with her in the ambulance.' Kevin had listened to the Pastors words in silence, his heart seeming to fall deeper in his chest with every word he spoke. How had it come to this? How had he not seen...?

He hung up the phone quickly then turned to Sian and spoke as gently as he could to the ashen faced girl, 'You need to ring Rosie, Sal and my Dad, tell them to meet us at the hospital. I'm sorry' Without a word she shakily took the phone from his outstretched hand and, as he pulled off again she began to dial the first number.

* * *

Pulling up at the hospital a short 15 minutes later, even though it had felt like much longer Sian jumped out of the car almost before Kevin had parked and ran into the reception. Breathlessly she asked the receptionist, 'Sophie? Sophie Webster do you know where she is? Please?' Before he got a chance to reply she was joined by Kevin, Sally and Jeff.

'She's been taken into resus, if you wait over there I will get a doctor to come and see you as soon as possible'. Although the young man was doing his best to help it wasn't good enough for Sally and she leant over the desk shouting, 'No we need to see her now, that is my daughter in there!' As he backed away, clearly shocked at the reaction he had received Sally felt a hand catch her arm from behind. Turning quickly, she saw the Pastor, 'You're Sophie's Mum aren't you?'

'Yes – Yes I am. What's happened to my daughter?' she questioned him. 'Come and sit down and I'll tell you what I know' As he gently led her to the waiting rooms plastic seats Jeff offered to go and get everyone some drinks and was rewarded by a small smile from Sally. After he had left the small area the Pastor began to explain what had happened earlier.

'Have the doctors said anything? How bad is she?' Sian asked as soon as he had finished, 'No I'm afraid I don't know anything, she was moving briefly before the ambulance arrived but she wasn't conscious for long and once we got here they rushed her away from me'

The small group were silenced by his news for the next 10 minutes, everyone too wrapped up in their own thoughts to even contemplate moving or speaking until Rosie and Jason burst through the door looking wildly round the room looking for anyone they recognised. As soon as Rosie saw her family she burst into tears and wrapped her arms round both Sian and Sophie. 'Come on love, have a seat' Jason said, 'Have you heard anything yet Kev?'

'No not yet, but I'm going to find something out now, I'm not standing round waiting forever!' and with that Kevin went storming off through the doors marked A&E.

* * *

2 hours later and despite Kevins determination to find out anything they were all still waiting, they were just been promoted to the family room instead of the reception. Sian was sitting sandwiched between Sally and Rosie each of whom were holding one of her hands. Jason had his arm round Rosie, Kevin and Bill, who had joined them an hour earlier were both pacing the length of the room and the Pastor was sitting in the corner of the room with his eyes closed praying.

'How could this happen?' Sally broke the silence with the question that had been running round everyones head all evening. 'It's his fault' Sian's voice was so quiet that only Rosie heard her, 'What? Who's fault?' she asked. Sian stood and pointed at the pastor, 'It's your fault she's here' she shouted and he looked up in shock, 'what do you mean?'

'It was your lies, telling her God didn't want her because she is gay', 'I never -', 'No don't think you can tell me you didn't – that it isn't your fault – you warped the bible to suit your own homophobic opinions and when her life fell apart she didn't have God to believe in anymore - to lean on' Sian screamed, 'If you hadn't rejected her she would have been able to cope, but she couldn't cope – she couldn't cope because of you'

'I know that that is what you believe but I was only reading from the scriptures and I can't change what it says in there.' The Pastor tried to explain himself, 'I told you both that God wasn't rejecting you then too'

Sian flew across the room and started hitting every part of the Pastor she could reach, 'You might have said that but you didn't mean it and we both knew it!' the whole room was stunned briefly by the rage and venom that they could see and hear from the young girl until Kevin came to his senses and pulled her away from him and enveloped her into his own arms where, once again, she began to cry into his shoulder.

'I'm sorry if that's what you believe -' The pastor started before Jason interrupted him, 'Listen mate, I think it's best if you leave now don't you?' The Pastor looked at the floor and nodded before moving out of the room. As he left a doctor, in scrubs, entered, 'Are you Sophie Websters family? - right well I have some news for you then. Please sit down.'


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing!**

**Not enough reviews but I couldn't let devilsspy down! so thankyou for your reviews. I am not a medical professional so I haven't gone into great detail about Sophie's injuries I'm pretty much relying on what happened to my friend when he got hit by a car.**

Most of the family remained standing for a few seconds before sitting on whichever chair was nearest to them but Sian remained standing, 'Please is she -?' she couldn't bring herself to finish the question as the pain she felt was evident all over her face. The doctors face softened as he indicated that she should sit down and after searching the doctors face for any clue as to how Sophie was and not finding any she sat on the edge of the chair next to Rosie leaning towards the grey haired man in front of her.

'My name is Dr Shah and firstly I want to apologize for the length of time it has taken for me to come and give you an update,' he began, 'we had a certain amount of difficulty in treating the patient due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed before the – fall'

There was a sharp intake of breath from Sally in the corner of the room, 'But she's going to be alright isn't she?' she couldn't bear the thought of losing her youngest child before her life had even begun. 'I'm afraid I couldn't possibly say at the moment, although she is stable at the moment' He paused, and sighed, knowing that what he was about to tell them wouldn't be easy for them to hear, 'Because of the angle she landed she suffered internal bleeding, several broken bones and a fractured skull. We have had to take her straight to the operating theatre in order to remove her spleen and hopefully repair any damage to her internal organs that may have caused the bleeding.'

'This procedure is normally fairly straight forward but, again, due to her blood alcohol level it increases the likelihood that something may go wrong. I don't want you to worry, we have excellent surgeons at Weatherfield General and I am confident that Sophie will recover from the surgery.'

'So what happens next? You said she had a fractured skull, what does that mean – brain damage?' Kevin stood and asked the doctor, 'We don't know, any type of head injury could result in brain damage and after she has left surgery we will be running tests on her but unfortunately this is the kind of thing that can usually only be revealed in the long term' he replied honestly.

'We are going to keep Sophie in a medically induced coma for at least the next 24 hours to give her body a chance to recover on its own but is a question I need to ask in order to care for her in the right way.'

'Go ahead, anything' Kevin spoke quickly. 'I know that this is going to be a difficult question for you to hear and I will fully understand if you don't want to answer, but it is very important that I do get answers as soon as possible' The doctor warned them looking round the room to make sure that everyone was paying attention. When he saw that both Rosie and Sally had sat up straighter he continued, 'I must ask what the state of Sophie's mind has been recently -'

'What the hell do you mean by that?' Sally responded quickly, 'Well because there were no indications from the patients hands that she made any attempt to stop herself from falling and the fact that she landed on her back, it may be that this wasn't an accident'

'You mean you think she tried to kill herself?' Sian had shaken herself out of the stupor she had been in since the pastor left but at first she still spoke quietly, 'No, no way, not Soph, she wouldn't leave me like that' then as she got stronger she stood and her voice rose to a shout, 'She's not like that, you don't know her'

'I appreciate your opinion but if this has been a suicide attempt then we need to think about keeping a closer eye on her when she comes round to ensure she doesn't try again so I need you to be honest with me ok?' Dr Shah tried again

'No she didn't try to _kill _herself,' the scorn in Sian's voice would have been obvious to anyone, 'She's had a hard few months but no, no way'

'Sian, love, we all know that she hasn't been herself in a long time' Sally crossed the room to put her arm round the young girls shoulders, 'we don't know what she was thinking. Kevin and haven't paying enough attention to her lately' she was now speaking to the doctor, 'we've had – problems, it's possible that she did tr-' unable to finish because of the tears now streaming down her cheeks both Rosie and Kevin joined the two women in the centre of the room and hugged them close.

'Thank you very much for your help, please stay here and we will let you know as soon as she is in recovery', the doctor, having had his suspicions confirmed, backed out of the room quietly leaving the family to their thoughts.

* * *

Everyone in the room had seemed to age 10 years with the doctors words as they all felt the potential repercussions for Sophie's future.

'Mum you're wrong,' Rosie was the first to break the tension that had built after the doctors revelations, 'Sophie would never try anything like that ever. Do you not know her at all? I mean I know that in reality you've ignored her her whole life and that's my fault but surely you know her at least that well' Sally was stung out of her tears by Rosie's outburst, 'Of course I know her I love her!'

'Well if you did you would know that she couldn't do this to herself or to any of us!' Rosie pouted, 'maybe this isn't the right time -' Kevin tried to calm the situation down before it got out of hand but it was too little to late. Rosie and Sian were now stood apart from everyone else, holding onto each other to keep themselves upright, 'No this is the perfect time Dad,' her again now focused on Kevin, 'you started all this, you knew your actions were going to hurt her but you were still always so petty, selling the house, telling lies' she paused to kiss Sian on the head before advancing on him, 'making sure she knew that the son you always wanted was more important than her.'

Kevin had no reply, even though he hadn't meant it at the time, he knew that it would have seemed that way to Sophie and he somehow looked older yet again. 'Oh you know what? I can't stand to be around you and Mum right now, come on Jase, Sian we're going to get a drink', She began to pull the blonde girl out of the room but Sian wouldn't leave, 'We can't, what if the doctor comes back, what if something goes wrong?' she asked worriedly. 'They can ring me and they better had' and with one final scornful look back at her parents the trio left leaving Kevin, Sally and Bill on their own.

'She's right we've made so many mistakes, we've been the worst parents in the world , how can we make it right now?' Sally almost talking to herself so she was surprised when Kevin came over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, 'yes we've made mistakes but I'm pretty sure we're not the worst parents in the world, you heard what the doctor said, he's confident so we should be too. That means we'll get the chance to make it up to her and we will.' and he kissed her forehead. 'Our daughter is strong.'

* * *

Sian, Rosie and Jason were sat silently in the hospital canteen nursing a mug in front of each of them. Taking a sip Rosie pulled a face, 'Urggh, this tea is cold, how long have we been sat here?'. Jason looked at his watch, '2 hours, they can't be much longer now'. Rosie sighed, 'who knows, Grandad told me when Mum was in hospital that these things always take longer than you expect'

'Wisdom eh Rosie?,' Jason tried to cheer his girlfriend up, 'I'm not used to that!', 'Shut up Jason, I'm not in the mood for your jokes', she replied once again drifting into her own thoughts.

'I'm really sorry you know Rosie, I knew she was in a bad way but I didn't do enough to help her, then I left -' Sian was desperate to let Rosie know how she was feeling, 'Stop right there, no one blames you, I know you did everything you could, but what she needed was for her family to care and so it can't be your fault that we didn't care enough to pay attention and I remember you trying to tell us. You did more for her than the rest of us put togeth-' Rosie was interrupted by her phone, 'Come on, she's in recovery, we can see her now' and they ran out of the room


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing (dammit!)**

**Sorry it's taken so long to update, had a bad few days involving running out of fags, then having to spend a week at my mates house cos he split with his partner and I had to convince him not to go running off to the local jump spot! When I finally got back my laptop had a virus on it that my anti-virus program couldn't get rid of so I've had to wipe the hard drive and start again so I'd lost all the work I'd already done on this chapter! **

**Hope you enjoy it anyway  
**

Sian was running down the corridors at full pelt when a shout from behind stopped her, 'Sian wait!', it was Jason. Turning to face him she couldn't see Rosie anywhere, confused, she asked 'where?-' and Jason simply pointed down a side corridor she had passed moments earlier. Sian was torn, she didn't know whether she could put up with Rosie going off on another of her tangents but she also knew that if she didn't make sure that Rosie was there for Sophie then she would be in big trouble. With a frustrated groan she headed back towards Jason. She hadn't gone far before she heard Rosie shouting.

'Why did you have to say those horrible things about my sister? You've done so much damage with those words.' Turning into the corridor Sian saw the reason Rosie had stopped. She was confronting Dr Shah. With a rush of warmth towards her girlfriends sister Sian stopped behind her and waited for the doctors response. 'Miss Webster, I am sorry if I hurt you or your family but it was a requirement, after all, if it was deliberate not only do we have to take into account her aftercare-'

'Yeah well couldn't it have waited then? Till after the shock? Till she was out of surgery?' Rosie clearly couldn't stand the doctor and spoke with venom in every word. 'Please, allow me to finish?' The doctor was trying his best to stay calm and paused waiting for confirmation that he wouldn't be interrupted again, at Rosie's short nod he continued, 'Ok, well if it was deliberate there may have been other substances in her system that she had taken before she went to that roof. If she had then that would affect our care of her. We couldn't go into anything blind so I needed to have as much information as possible.'

'And had she?' Sian spoke so quietly that Jason, who was standing just 2 feet away could barely hear her. Dr Shah shook his head, 'I told you, it wasn't deliberate', her belief in the girl she loved showing through.

'I'm sorry to say this, but we still can't rule it out from a medical point of view.' Changing the subject quickly as he saw the look on both Rosie and Sian's faces he said, 'I assume that you are on your way to see Sophie?' The trio nodded, 'Then I will come with you, I was on my way to give you all an update then take you through to see her.'

* * *

Bill had gone home an hour earlier to update Pam and check on baby Jack at Kevin's request leaving Sophie's parents alone. They had spent most of the time at opposite ends of the room lost in their own thoughts. Had either known what the other was thinking, then they may have been able to be a comfort to each other as their thoughts were basically the same. Each of them were blaming themselves for what had happened to their daughter. Unfortunately they were still both so proud and stubborn that they were unable to turn to each other.

As the door opened Kevin and Sally looked up and Dr Shah entered, followed quickly by Sian, Rosie and then Jason. Without looking at her parents Rosie pulled Sian and her boyfriend to sit with her then looked up at the doctor expectantly, 'Go on then.'

'Right, well its good news, Sophie's injuries, while still life threatening, were not as serious as we first thought. Luckily a car roof has much more give in it than the ground, and coupled with the amount of alcohol in her system seems to have allowed her body to be relatively relaxed upon impact. However, had she landed on concrete rather than a car roof there is no doubt in my mind that she would not have survived. She has come through her surgery well and is currently in recovery, we will be keeping her in there for around-' he paused to look at his watch, 'another 10 minutes, after that you may see her, no more than 2 at a time but I must warn you. She needs a lot of equipment monitoring her condition so there will be a lot of wires. She will also be unresponsive, as I think I told you earlier, she is in a medically induced coma'.

The doctors words were followed initially by complete silence before everything happened at once, Sally burst into tears, Kevin grabbed her and pulled her into a massive bear hug, while thanking the doctor and Rosie, grinning shouted, 'I knew it!' Jason hugged her tightly to stop her from jumping up and down. Sian sank to the floor in relief, she was going to see her blue eyes again.

'So, Mr and Mrs Webster, if you would like to follow me and I will take you to your daughter.' Dr Shah was even smiling by now, 'Er, what about Sian?' Rosie's voice was muffled by Jason's shoulder, 'Do you not think that Sophie would want her there?'

'She'd probably want Sian there instead of us!' Sally replied, hurt, but knowing that Rosie was speaking the truth. 'Next of kin only at first,' the doctor interjected, 'in the morning you can take it in turns.'

Kevin spoke then, 'Jason, could you take the girls home? To get some rest Rosie!' , he laughed anticipating the response that was already forming on her face, 'plus Sophie is going to need some things from home, you can pick them up and bring them for her in the morning.' Then Sally and Kevin left the room together with the doctor.

* * *

During the journey home Sian was plotting in her mind all the things Sophie would want, her ipod, toothbrush, washing things, photos, pj's and her pink dressing gown. Rosie was doing the same, even though she wasn't thinking of quite the same things, her ideas were more based on make up and various clothes.

Both girls were so lost in their plans that they were home before they had even spoken so when they entered number 4 Coronation Street and Jason had gone home himself they decided to make a cuppa and have a chat before sorting everything out. The conversation quickly turned to their memories of Sophie and Rosie began telling tales, 'You should be happy you didn't know her when she was younger you know!' Rosie started, 'What do you mean?' Sian was puzzled.

'She was a right brat! When she was about 11 she used to nick my bras. Once she stuffed it with my Mum's best tights. You should have seen Mum's face, it was priceless' Rosie and Sian fell about giggling.

'Do you remember when we went to Headline festival?' Now it was Sian's turn, 'it's sheer mischief. She bought me a t-shirt then left it in the bag. Your Mum nearly found it and I had to rescue it from the washing machine. She makes me laugh so much.' Sian took a deep breath then said, 'She can still be a brat like that sometimes you know, but I wouldn't change her for anything. She's not perfect but she's perfect for me just the way she is'

Sensing the change in tone of Sian's thoughts Rosie responded in kind, 'No she's not perfect but I know what you mean she's my sister and I love her' Both girls lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Rosie jumped up, 'Come on, lets get everything packed for Soph, then we can see about getting some rest before Jason comes back to pick us up'

* * *

After Dr Shah had shown them to Sophie's bed Kevin and Sally looked down at their daughter in her hospital bed. Sophie was lying still with her arms above the covers and by her side. She had an IV in her left hand so Sally went round the bed to the other side and gently touched her right hand, 'She's freezing Kev', Sally was shocked at the volume of wires coming from various parts of her child's body, although she was comforted by the gentle, steady beeping coming from the machines surrounding her, 'she's so small, I should have protected her better than this, that's my job'

'It's not your fault Sal, you're a fantastic Mum, after she got kicked out of college she seemed to be better in herself, so we both forgot about her again. Then I won that money and we started fighting again. But how were we supposed to know she was feeling this bad about herself? She hasn't talked to anyone about how she's been feeling in a long time. I don't think she even knew what she felt about everything that has happened.' Kevin paused, 'Did you ever get a straight answer from her about why she suddenly wasn't bothered about college anymore? Cos I know I didn't' Kevin finished the longest speech he had made all night and looked across at his wife.

'No I didn't, she just said she was bored and she felt sick at the thought of going back. Maybe I should have pushed her more, got to know her again.' Sally couldn't look at Kevin, she was just focused on Sophie's face. 'I love her so much, surely she knows that?'

'Of course she does,' Kevin sat on the other side of the bed and touched Sophie's arm gently. He didn't dare do anything more than that just in case he knocked something out of place.

'But what if the doctor is right? What if she did this on purpose?'


	6. Chapter 6

**Still owning nothing!**

**Updating a bit earlier than normal cos I'm going out tomorow night and seeing as I'm not paying for the alcohol I have a feeling I'll be too drunk to focus on the computer screen!**

**Hope you enjoy :) please review!  
**

Jason dropped Rosie and Sian off at the hospital at 8am the next morning before he went to work because Owen wouldn't let him take time off to support his girlfriend. Rosie looked at Sian, took a deep breath and said, 'It's too cold out here, lets not hang around'. Sian nodded, 'Maybe you should have put a coat on then!' Rosie looked down at her outfit, a red sleeveless top, skinny jeans and a pair of killer heels, 'You can't put a coat on with this you know, ruins the effect'. Sian shrugged and threw the duffel bag containing the things that Sophie needed over her shoulder and set off. 'How do you know where to go?' Rosie asked, 'Your Mum sent me a text last night' came the reply over the younger girls shoulder. She wasn't going to wait around for Rosie today.

As they walked though the hospital they talked a little about Kevin and Sally, 'I hope they are going to stop arguing, that's been the cause of half of Soph's problems' Rosie mused. 'Who knows? Nothing that's happened so far has stopped them has it?' Sian wasn't convinced that the ex couple would be able to stop, Kevin had done too much to hurt his wife, especially with him now having a son and Sally? Well Sian had seen for herself the older woman's temper to believe that it could just end. 'Well, a temporary ceasefire then maybe?' Rosie was still hopeful, 'Mum forgave Dad having an affair before'

'He had an affair before?' Sian was stunned, she hadn't known that. 'No wonder you guys were so angry at him, I mean to do it once is bad enough but to do it a second time-' Sian trailed off. 'Yeah, it was ages ago, they split for 3 years, even got a divorce but they fell in love again' Rosie explained.

'Why didn't Sophie tell me?' Sian was puzzled, 'She can tell me anything, she knows that but she always pushes me away'. Softly Rosie replied, 'I don't know, but you can ask her later can't you? We can all get some answers then.'

They had reached the door to Sophie's room and Rosie glanced through the window, 'Sian, look at this' indicating that the blonde should look in the same direction. They could see Sophie from where they stood. Sian couldn't believe how beautiful she looked even with the cuts and bruises on her face and the number of wires and machines surrounding her. Sally was sitting on one side of Sophie's bed, her head resting on the bed facing away from them and Kevin was sitting on the other side stretched out with his head tipped back, eyes shut and mouth open. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Rosie commented, 'That's good, they haven't killed each other overnight!' Sian grinned and pushed the door open and walked over to the bed.

'Morning people!' Typical Rosie, couldn't be bothered to wake her Mum and Dad up gently even though they were clearly sleeping in uncomfortable positions Sian thought. Kevin woke up with a jump and rubbed his sleeve over his mouth. 'Rosie be quiet please this isn't the place for your noise', he grumbled. Sally looked up at the girls, 'Did you get any sleep?'

'No,' Sian was sheepish, 'We spent most of the night talking about Soph, has there been any change?'. 'No, she's stable and out of immediate danger apparently, its just a question of time now. Dr Shah said he would come back in the early afternoon to reassess her'. Sally replied.

'So he'll be here sometime next week then?' Rosie was on a roll, clearly in a good mood after all the positive news they had heard last night and this morning. 'Rosie! Don't be rude' Sally told her eldest daughter off, 'Oh chill out Mum it was a joke and anyway you know what the NHS is like' Rosie dismissed her Mum's opinion with a wave of her hand, 'We need two more chairs, I am not standing around here in these heels'

'That's a good point Rosie, you two shouldn't be in here, the doctor said only two people at once' Kevin didn't want to upset the doctors that had saved his child's life, 'Oh Kevin it's ok for a minute or two isn't it?' Sally countered. Rosie and Sian glanced at each other, they didn't want their presence to cause an argument, but they didn't want to leave either. 'Ok ok,' Kevin grimaced, 'but if anyone comes in you arrived 1 minute before them ok? And you can't go looking for chairs either. Sit here Rosie.' As Kevin got up both girls nodded fervently.

Sally had noticed the look between Rosie and Sian and now she spoke up, 'You don't need to worry love, me and your Dad are going to stop arguing,' she glanced over at the bed, 'we've come up with a solution, your Dad won some money on the lottery recently so we're going to split the money 50/50 and then I'm going to buy Kevin's half of the house from him. That way Sophie can come home to familiar and secure surroundings and Kevin doesn't need to worry about J- his baby either. Maybe we can both move on from all this and look after all of you better.'

'Do you think she heard that? They say that you can hear things when you're unconscious' Sian moved to the head of Sophie's bed and touched her gently on her forehead. 'I hope so' Sally replied. 'If she did maybe it will help her get better quicker knowing that one of her problems is sorted'.

Shortly afterwards a nurse came in to check Sophie's vitals, ' I know that you all want to be in here but there's nothing you can do so I'm going to have to ask at least two of you to leave now please' she told the group sternly. 'Well I'm not going anywhere and neither is Sian' Rosie spoke to her parents for both of them, 'You two have been here all night, go home, get changed and a shower, you need one!'

'I can't leave her on her own' Sally was visibly upset at the thought, 'Rosie's right Sal, and she won't _be_ on her own, Rosie and Sian can look after her. We'll come back at dinner time to hear what the doctor says' Kevin tried to convince her that it would be ok to leave for a few hours, 'We won't be gone long.' She nodded at his words, but still didn't move until he came and led her out of the room by her shoulders leaving Rosie and Sian sitting by the bed.

After the nurse had checked Sophie over and let the two girls know that nothing major had changed and that this was good news she left they began to talk to her. They didn't have much to tell her, after all it had been less than half a day since she had fallen. They told her that Sunita had asked after her and how Norris had scared Graeme earlier when he had been washing his windows and Norris had opened his curtains on him nearly making him fall off his ladder. They kept up the inane chatter for as long as they possibly could but eventually they ran out of things to say.

'I'm going to get a cuppa Sian, do you want one?' Rosie asked, 'Um, yeah please, could you get a newspaper too? We can read it to her maybe' Sian was desperately trying to think of anything she could to keep talking to her girlfriend. 'Ooh I should get Cosmo too!' Rosie said as she wandered out of the room in search of the shops.

* * *

This was the first time that Sian had been alone with her girlfriend since the accident and at first she didn't know what to say. She took hold of her hand and began, 'I'm sorry Soph, I'm sorry I didn't see how much pain you were in, I'm sorry that I left you. I thought that I was holding you back from dealing with everything. If I could do it all again I wouldn't leave. I will never leave you again, you're stuck with me forever babe whether you want me or not!' She paused, 'I know you think I cheated on you but I didn't, I couldn't. You are the love of my life. Chloe, that's the girl you saw in the photos, was just a friend, someone to take my mind off you a bit on holiday, see, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I was getting on better with my Mum and Yusef but they were wrapped up in each other and I needed to be doing something all the time or I'd just end up staring into space!' Sian could feel tears running down her face and even though she wasn't sure that Sophie would be able to hear what she was saying she had to continue, had to say what was on her mind even if it meant repeating it again when Sophie was awake.

'Chloe was a distraction, a mate when I needed one so when she invited me for a day out in Manchester I felt like I owed her, I should have thought about how it might have looked to you, especially after everything that happened with Ryan but I didn't. That's my fault. I know that. Everyone's blaming themselves for what happened last night but maybe if I'd just used my brain things would have been different. I'm not moving back to Mum's now you know. I'm going to nurse you and we are going to talk and deal with everything properly. I'm going to protect you. I've made so many mistakes I need you to be ok so I can make it up to you.'

Sian leant over to the brunettes ear, 'I love you' she whispered and kissed her gently on the forehead.


	7. Chapter 7

**I started this chapter 15 hours ago but I had no idea where I was going with it so it took me ages to finish! Sorry :( please read and review. I'm not begging this time.**

As Sian raised herself from Sophie's bed one of the machines bleeped faster for 3 or four beats. She heard a voice coming from behind her. Turning, she saw Rosie stood in the doorway clutching 2 plastic cups and a magazine under her arm, 'Maybe she can hear us, she definitely knows you just kissed her!'

'How long have you been stood there?' she asked, embarrassed at what Rosie might have overheard. 'Long enough! That was so sweet, you two are too cute for words' Rosie exclaimed, 'but it was complete bull you know, it's not your fault I keep telling you that'.

'It's pretty hard to believe that when she gets drunk and falls off a roof only a few hours after we argued' she replied softly, 'I mean it had to be that that tipped her over the edge didn't it?' Rosie sighed and sat down opposite Sian, offering her one of the plastic cups, 'Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't but you also have to know that it wasn't you that took her to that edge in the first place I mean that was one thing in a long line of problems and if it hadn't of been for those problems then this one problem wouldn't have caused her to go to that church.' pausing to take a sip of her drink she smiled, 'besides I always said that she should stop going to church and she clearly didn't listen to me!'

Sian smiled, grateful for the lightening of the conversation she wasn't too sure about how much she wanted to tell her girlfriends sister about their relationship, 'So, where's the newspaper I asked for anyway?' Rosie pulled a face, 'She wouldn't be interested in that so I got cosmo instead' then seeing the look on the younger girls face she continued, 'she is a Webster you know!'

The two girls sat there for the rest of the morning, reading and chatting to each other and to Sophie about nothing much in particular, just waiting for something to happen. They were interrupted every half an hour by a nurse coming in to check on Sophie and each time they bombarded them with questions. They were never satisfied with the answers they got, she's fine, she's stable, there's no change but there was nothing they could do until Dr Shah had arrived.

* * *

As lunchtime approached, Rosie's stomach gave a loud rumble making Sian giggle, 'I think your hungry!' she pointed out, somewhat obviously, 'No I'm ok till Mum and Dad get here' she replied massaging her stomach.

'What do you think of the truce?' Rosie was very optimistic but she could see from Sian's face that the blonde wasn't sure, 'I don't know, it just seems very sudden, like they haven't thought it all through properly', Sian voiced her concern from this morning for the first time. Rosie tried to put a positive spin on it 'I think it's great. Mum and Dad won't get back together but at least Soph won't be neglected again. Why how long do you think it will last?' Sian shrugged her shoulders, and watching her girlfriend replied, 'As long as it can I suppose, I just can't help thinking that at some point one of them is going to do something that the other one doesn't like and Soph will be forgotten again.'

The girls stopped talking after that, both lost in what had been said but it didn't last long as Sally came rushing in the door a few minutes later, 'How is she?' she asked as she came over to the bed, 'Same as before Mum, no change.' Rosie replied, 'but now that you're here I'm off to get a sandwich. I'm starving!' and she flounced out of the door. 'I see Rosie's back to normal at least' Sally stared at the door after her eldest daughter, 'Yeah, no change there either!' Sian joked without looking up.

Sally looked at the young girl sitting holding her daughters hand and said, 'Have you had anything to eat?' She shook her head, 'No, I'm alright Sally, I just want to be here for Soph'. The older woman put her hand on top of Sian's, 'You have to take care of yourself love, you'll be no good to her if you're not well'

'Why doesn't anyone understand? I've left her once I can't do that to her again. I need her', Sian pleaded, 'I know, she needs you too' Sally sighed and crossed her arms, 'I owe you an apology, I haven't treat your relationship with the respect it deserves. I can see how much you love my daughter, so let me take care of you. I'll ring Rosie, get you a sandwich or something.'

Sally had made her mind up and Sian knew that once that had happened there would be no changing it. In fact, before she had had a chance to agree Sally was speaking to her eldest daughter and putting a lengthy order in.

Not long after Rosie returned carrying 3 sandwiches, 3 cans of pop and 3 packets of crisps in a bag Dr Shah joined them followed closely by Kevin, 'There shouldn't be this many people in the room' he admonished them.

'Can you just tell us what's going on', Rosie still wasn't keen on the doctor and it came across in her voice. The doctor chuckled, 'Just bear with me, I need to check her chart first!'

Sophie's family watched every move the doctor made in silence as he first checked her chart then the machines surrounding her. It seemed to all four of them that it was taking ages but eventually the doctor spoke, 'Well it all looks really good to me'. There was a collective sigh of relief from the room, 'She is obviously very strong, a fighter, helped of course that prior to this incident she was a healthy young woman. Due to her impressive progress I am going to recommend reducing her sedation earlier than I initially thought. Now this is no guarantee that she will wake or that I will be doing that immediately, but I would have thought that this evening would be a suitable time to try.'

'What if she doesn't wake up?' Kevin spoke for the first time since he had joined them. 'If she remains unconscious then it simply means that she isn't ready to yet. I wouldn't be too concerned if she didn't to be honest. She has put her body through a lot and it will take time to recover. Even when she does regain consciousness she will probably spend most of the next few days sleeping.'

'Will she remember what happened?' It was Sian's turn to ask the doctor a question, 'I couldn't tell you that' the doctor explained, 'Every patient is different'. Sian didn't want to let him off with and easy answer like that so she continued, 'Yeah I know that but in your experience-?' Dr Shah paused briefly, 'In my experience a patient that has suffered this type of trauma usually cannot remember how they were hurt, initially at least. It is entirely up to yourselves whether you tell her now or wait until she remembers on her own.'

'Brain damage?' Kevin asked the question that everyone wanted to know but didn't really want to ask. 'From the MRI, CT and EEG's we did last night it doesn't look likely but we will only know for sure when she wakes up, the brain is the organ we know the least about unfortunately'. The doctor put Sophie's chart back on the end of her bed before saying, 'I'm sure that you have more questions but I have other patients I need to check on before I come back to reduce Sophie sedation and I'm sure you want be to come back as soon as possible. In the meantime I will have Sophie moved to a regular ward so all four of you can stay with her'.

'Thank you doctor', Sally smiled, 'for everything'.

* * *

4 hours later they were in a normal ward like Dr Shah had promised although they were still waiting for him to turn up. Rosie was on her mobile talking to Jason who had just finished work, Kevin was pacing up and down the side of the bed, Sally was rooting through her bag looking for her purse and Sian was using one hand to hold Sophie's and was biting the nails of her other hand. 'Rosie when you're done on the phone can you go and get some food please?' Sally was triumphant as she found her purse at last but all she got in response was a wave of a hand. 'I don't suppose there's much chance of you going is there Sian?' She tried again, not wanting to leave herself, but put the purse back as she saw Sian shake her head without moving her gaze from her prone girlfriend.

'Where is he?' Kevin was clearly frustrated, 'He should be back by now. I'm going to look for him' he said, talking about Dr Shah as he left the room.

'I wish she would hang up that phone, it's Sophie and family that matters now not Jason' Sally grumbled. 'Leave her alone, she's been really good to me. Besides Jason is her family now just like Sophie and you guys are my family now too' Sian looked away from Sophie for the first time in hours, massaging her neck as she did, 'Jason was good last night, he cares about Soph too. He deserves to know what's happening.'

Sally saw the honesty and truth in the young girls face and words, 'Yeah I know your right, you've got more brains in your head than me, it's just hard to not have her here with Sophie like this.' Sian nodded, 'you've got me and I think it's actually kind of good to have Rosie off in her own world again. One less person to worry about!'

'You're right there! Again,' Sally chuckled briefly before giving Sian a hug which was returned by the blondes one free arm.

That was still the scene that greeted Kevin as he walked back to the bed with Dr Shah 10 minutes later. After a quick check of Sophie's chart and machines the doctor confirmed that he was happy to stop her sedation and began the process.

'What happens now?' Sally removed her arm from Sian and spoke to the doctor as he finished. 'We wait,' he replied simply, 'the medication should work itself out of her system in around 20 to 30 minutes and at some point after that she should wake up. Please excuse me, I am needed elsewhere at the moment. The nurses will be in regularly to keep an eye on her.' Then with a sharp nod in Kevin's direction, he left.

An hour later they finally began to see signs of life from Sophie. First twitches from her fingers, then her legs shifted position and her eyes began to flicker. 'Why is it taking so long? Dr Shah said she'd wake up after half an hour. It's been over an hour now already.' Sian asked worriedly, 'Don't panic love' Kevin answered her, 'She's been in a very deep sleep and it's going to take a while to come round, just like it would take anyone who's been asleep for almost 24 hours'. Sian wasn't entirely reassured by his words but at least she knew that he was confident that she would come round soon.

It took another hour before Sophie's eyes opened. She looked around the room before finally focusing on her girlfriend. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke, 'Sian-'.

**A/N - I know that I have at least one chapter left in this but I definitly want to write another story. At the moment I only have one pretty vague idea though so if anyone wants to suggest something for me to write please let me know!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I own nothing. **

**One more to go I think, don't want to stretch it beyond it's 'natural life' lol. Hope you like it.**

**PLEASE read and review I love reading them and it makes me want to write!  
**

Sian looked into Sophie's deep blue eyes and burst into tears before hugging her as tightly as she dared, which wasn't very hard at all and kissed her all over her face until she reached her right side at which point Sophie winced and Sian moved away from her. Sally took over then and gave her a kiss on her cheek, 'You've given us all quite a fright Sophie. Do you know where you are?'

'Um... no. What happened?' Sophie said as she yawned and Sian looked at Sally, they hadn't actually got round to discussing what they would tell her and she was worried that she would say something wrong, 'Someone tell me then!'

Deciding that only the basics were necessary considering the brunette looked like she was about to drop off again Sian said, 'You're in hospital, you had an accident, Can you remember what happened?'

'No, last thing I remember was being at work-' Sophie's eyes widened as she thought about the horrible things she had said, 'We were arguing'. That had been about 5 hours before the fall and although she didn't know why Sophie could see that her family looked worried. 'It's ok babe, it doesn't matter now.'

Sophie's eyes began to close again as she muttered, 'good' and she quickly fell asleep again. In all she had only been awake for around 5 minutes but it was enough to give her family a bit of relief and made them believe that she would eventually be healthy again.

'Did anyone press the call button?' Kevin asked the room, 'I did Dad,' Rosie replied raising her hand slightly, 'I wasn't expecting her to fall asleep so soon, anyone would think she'd had enough by now. I'm going to ring Jason.' She left the room passing a nurse responding to the call put through to the nurses station.

'She woke up briefly so we thought we'd best call you but she wasn't awake for long. Sorry to bother you' Sally explained to the young man, 'Don't apologise, you did the right thing', he reassured her, 'It's good news! I'll just go and give Dr Shah a ring and get him to come down and see you and check this young lady out. Hopefully she will be awake again by then'.

'What time did you argue at the shop?' Kevin asked Sian wanting to know as much about the previous day as possible, 'I dunno about 6, I think,' she paused as she thought back trying to get the memory right through her own tired brain, 'yeah it must have been cos we were still arguing when she finished work.'

'So that's about 5 hours before she fell then. That's a long time' Sally looked despondent at the thought that she wouldn't be getting any answers about what her youngest had gone through. Knowing exactly what his wife would be thinking Kevin responded to her thoughts instead of her words, 'we will get answers love, in time, the doctor said that it will come back when she is ready. We'll ask her in a day or two, once she's properly awake. To be honest though I think we all know how she was feeling and we don't need her to tell us. Actions speak louder than words and that is what needs to happen now.'

* * *

Half an hour later and when Dr Shah appeared Sophie was indeed awake. She was very groggy and completely without energy but determined not to fall asleep because her Mum had told her that her doctor was on his way.

'Hello there Sophie, my name is Dr Shah. How are you feeling?' The doctor smiled as he introduced himself. Sophie didn't feel up to giving him a full rundown of exactly how she was feeling, 'tired!' A one word answer would have to do.

'Well that's only to be expected, you've done yourself some pretty serious damage last night. Ok, so, this is the second time you've woken up I understand?' The doctor asked no one in particular as he picked up her chart again and Sally answered him, 'yes that's right about 5 minutes the first time and a little longer this time'

Sophie looked puzzled. She couldn't remember waking up before, 'I didn't know that!' Rosie giggled, 'and you're supposed to be the clever one!' Sally sent a dark look across to her that she didn't see because she was watching her sister.

The doctor interrupted the sisterly exchange as Sophie mirrored Sally's face, ' I just need to do some basic checks and confirm our scan results ok?' he questioned his patient and at her nod he moved to the bed and began to check her mobility and touch in each of her limbs asking questions as he went. He checked her left side first, knowing that she had fewer injuries on that side and he wanted to ease her into the process. He nodded gently to himself as he went he checked the incision on her abdomen before moving to her right side. As soon as her began to manipulate her arm she groaned in pain and tried instinctively to move away.

'Hey, that's enough!' Sally spoke sharply towards the doctor, hating seeing her child in pain, 'It's a necessary evil I'm afraid, it won't take much longer and I will be as gentle as I can be' the doctor promised and Sally nodded allowing him to continue although she moved herself closer to the pair, ready to rescue her daughter if she felt Dr Shah was pushing her too far but he finished quickly and without any further outbursts from Sophie even though the grimace on her face showed that she was in pain.

Stepping back from the bed he updated them, 'It all looks good at the moment, there is a slight lack of resistance in her right side but that may just be down to bruised muscles from the fall and she has no long term memory loss which suggests that there is no brain damage either.'

'Brain damage?' Sophie was interested in the doctors statement. Her family had told her about her physical injuries but not mentioned anything about her brain. Sian, Sally and Kevin looked uncomfortable but Rosie stole the moment again, 'What does it matter? No one would be able to tell anyway. You're completely loopy at the best of times!' Sian bumped her hip against Rosie's in a gentle reproach as Sally explained, 'We just didn't want to worry you love. The doctor said it would be pretty unlikely anyway.'

'Right, that's me done here. I am happy with your progress although you have been very lucky ok?' the doctor spoke at first to Sophie then to her family, 'I think it is time for you all to leave now, Sophie needs her rest and visiting times are nearly over. I'll leave you to say your goodbyes and I am going to make sure that a nurse comes in to check you've all gone home in 10 minutes'. Dr Shah had clearly learnt his lesson in trusting this particular family to stick to hospital room as he warned them firmly.

The experience of being poked and prodded by the doctor had taken it out of Sophie and as her family wished her goodnight and kissed her her eyes began to close again. Before they did Rosie ushered her parents out of the room leaving the couple a few minutes of privacy to say goodbye.

* * *

Sian didn't really know what to say to her girlfriend. She had kind of already explained her feelings and didn't have the time to go through them again if Sophie hadn't heard her so she simply remained sitting by the bed holding her hand.

'I'm sorry'. Sian looked up when Sophie spoke quietly and saw a tear running down her cheek. She wiped it away using her sleeve, 'What for?'

Sophie closed her eyes and took a deep breathe, 'for arguing with you. I shouldn't have needed proof that you would always be here for me but I still have it now and I was just a stupid cow and I should never have said those things and, please will you forgive me cos I don't want to lose you.' her words came out in a rush as though she thought that Sian would run out halfway though if she spoke slower.

Sian laughed once, 'I'm not going anywhere, 'cept home to sleep before I come back first thing in the morning. I'm not going to forgive you though' She paused and saw the brief flash of hurt that went across her girlfriends face, 'I don't need to cos I love you more than anything else in this world.'

Sophie smiled, her eyes still closed, she could feel herself falling into the blackness of sleep again but she pulled herself out of it just enough to reply, 'I love you too'.


	9. Author Update

Just wanted to say sorry for not finishing the story but I wanted to have the final chapter up before Sian came back off holiday for obvious reasons! But my internet crashed and the company we were with decided they shouldn't have put it in in the first place! So I'm using a dongle for the moment.

I have the final chapter written but I don't know whether its worth putting it up now or not so if you do want it let me know and I will post it

Thanks for reading it anyway!


	10. Chapter 9

**Thank you for the reviews, made me smile! **

**Couple of questions to answer, 1. A dongle is like a USB stick you put into your computer that you can get mobile internet through. The company I have it through is crap though! 2. the reviewer who wants the Peter/Carla story, please can you get in touch with me directly because I want to talk to you properly.**

**Owning nothing here by the way!**

The following morning when Sian and Rosie turned up at the hospital they were greeted by Sally, 'Hi girls, you sleep ok?'. Rosie smiled, 'Yeah Mum, probably better than her!' she nodded at the still sleeping form of her sister, 'We bumped into Rita before' she continued, 'we told her that Sophie was going to be ok and she said she would pop in later to see you'. Sally was please at the thought of having her 'substitute' mother's support, 'Oh good, that'll be nice'.

While they were talking Sian had sat herself in the same chair she had been sitting in for most of the previous day and was once again holding her girlfriends hand. 'Hey Soph' she spoke gently, not wanting to wake her up before she was ready, but still needing to let her know she was around. 'I think she's better today love' Sally told her, 'They've taken her off the machines monitoring her.'

'Yeah I think she's lying more comfortably too.' Sian smiled as the door opened behind them and Kevin entered with a guilty look on his face and his baby Jack in his arms. 'I'm sorry about this' he said as he indicated his son, 'I'm not going into work today and so I thought I might bring him with me, see if he can cheer her up a bit. If it bothers you I'll take him to the childminders'. He spoke directly to his wife who took a deep breath, obviously weighing up the pros and cons of having the child that had, in a way, caused the break up of their marriage, in the room against having another argument. 'He can stay,' she said eventually, 'she deserves a chance of happiness and if he can help then...' She trailed off, not quite knowing how to finish the sentence.

Everyone had been so caught up in this small exchange that no one had noticed that Sophie had woken up and was watching the little scene with interest. 'Bring him over here then' she said making them all jump slightly. 'Good morning!' they chorused before all five laughed as they realised they had spoken together. Kevin did what he had been told and brought Jack over to his daughters bed and sitting him on the edge.

Sophie's family spent most of the day enjoying her company, taking it in turns to spend time with her, simply talking, even though no-one wanted to approach the subject of why she had gone up to the roof in the first place. Kevin stayed until dinnertime when Jack's fascination with the needle in the back of Sophie's hand had finally taken it's toll on her and he was removed, screaming from the room. Her Dad promised her he would return as soon as he found someone to take of him before he left. Sally and Rosie left shortly after to pick Rita up who had rung saying she'd had enough of Norris and Mary and wanted to know if she could come and visit Sophie.

Sian wasn't going anywhere though and sat talking and giggling with Sophie for a short time before the conversation turned to the serious subject of the fall. 'Can you remember yet?' Sian asked.

'Bits and pieces, I'd think it was a bad dream if I wasn't here,' Sophie tried to joke as she looked round the hospital room. 'Don't Soph', Sian pleaded, 'I know you don't want to talk about this but, you kind of have to you know, I need to know what happened, we need to communicate better, stop this from ever happening again.'

Sophie sighed, 'I know, it's just hard to think about it. Never mind talk about it.' Sian took hold of her hand and gazed into her eyes, 'I know babe, start at the beginning, they say that helps!' she grinned.

Smiling back Sophie began, 'I don't really know what happened, I just know I was sad at first, everything that happened with my Mum and Dad splitting, he'd lied to me for so long and it was so – bitter. But then it changed, I got angry, I wasn't angry at him or Mum for arguing or splitting, I was just angry and, and frustrated.' She stopped and looked away, fiddling with her fingernails. Sian nudged her to remind her to start talking again.

'I think that's why college started going wrong, I couldn't concentrate and it seemed pointless even going when everything at home was so messed up. So I stopped going and only you noticed but I think I knew you would. I knew you cared so I didn't need you to show you cared.' Sophie's voice was getting slightly strained as she tried to get her girlfriend to understand. Sian kissed her gently on her hand, 'I know babe, you needed your parents to see you were hurting.'

'But they didn't, even when I got kicked out they didn't seem to listen, to understand, neither of them asked why I'd stopped caring about college and I think so many things had gone wrong by then that I started looking for other things that were also going wrong. That's what happened with you and Chloe. I couldn't believe that with everything else going so badly wrong that you would want to stay.' Sophie finished talking.

'So why did you go to the church the other night?' Sian wanted to know the whole story now that she had started.

'I wanted answers to why it was all so crap, it just seemed to make sense that that was the place to get them. For ages I enjoyed being there, but once I was there it just seemed like another thing that had gone wrong and it made me feel worse, not better.' Sophie pulled her hand away from Sian's and brushed it across her face, 'I still don't know why I went up to the roof, I just wanted answers...'

Sian began to cry, 'I should have realised, I just didn't know why you were pushing me away, I just thought you were being silly!' she laughed once through her tears, 'I'm so sorry, I knew things weren't going well for you and I shouldn't have run away'.

'I was being silly babe' Sophie comforted the blonde, rubbing her arm, 'I love you.' Sian lent over and gave her a kiss, 'I love you too'. Sophie gingerly shifted her body away from her on the bed, 'Come here, give me a hug!' Sian lay down on the bed and wrapped her arm round the brunettes waist, 'At least your parents have promised to change, they're going to pay more attention to you and stop arguing, that's good isn't it?'

Sophie chuckled, 'They've promised that before, so we'll just have to wait and see.' The two girls drifted into silence as they thought about their conversation, comforted by their closeness.

About an hour later Sian was disturbed by Sally and Rosie's return as they brought Rita back with them and she got off the bed, 'Sorry,' she whispered, looking down at the bed noticing that her girlfriend was asleep again. 'Not to worry love, I'm just glad she's ok' Rita replied.

'We've got some news too, the doctor says she can come home in a few days, but he did say that even though she didn't jump he did think she was suffering some kind of depression so he's referring her to a therapist for her to talk to' Sally brought her up to date.

**3 months later**

Almost true to her words Sophie had returned home 4 days later, Sian coming home with her to nurse her back to full health and, finally, having the support of her parents who _had_ actually stopped arguing, and her weekly visits to the therapist, she began to deal with her insecurities.

'Want to watch Jumper?' Sian glanced at Sophie from the floor where she was looking through her girlfriend's DVD collection, 'Oh don't!' Sophie groaned in response, 'You know I don't like that title now, I thought you were going to get rid of it anyway'

'I did. Ages ago. You're so easy to wind up' she laughed, ducking as a cushion went whizzing past her head then putting a DVD in the machine and cuddling up to the other girl on the sofa, 'Who'd have thought...'

'Thought what?' Sophie poked the blonde girl in the ribs when she didn't finish her sentence. 'A simple fall off a church roof would make everything ok again!'

'Make everything perfect again you mean' Sophie replied before she lent over for a kiss, the DVD forgotten about.

**Any story ideas would be much appreciated please :)**


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